July 6, 2012

Busy Bees Craft

We have been reading some fun books about bees this week and we made this fun Busy Bee Craft to go along with them.

My inspiration for this craft came from Apples and ABCs. You can purchase all the patterns and instructions for her craft at her TPT Store to make it easier for you, and it even comes with a cute writing prompt.

Here is how we made our craft:

1. I drew a beehive shape on a yellow-mustard colored piece of paper to start.

2. We used Apples and ABCs painting technique by using bubble wrap to paint our beehive. Simply cut down a piece in a size that will completely cover the beehive, then paint it, and press it down onto the beehive. Carefully peel it off so you don't smear the paint and lose the texture.

3. We opted to use a blue background for our scene so once the beehive was dry, we cut it out and glued it onto our paper. We also cut out a brown entrance to the beehive and glued it down.

4. To make our bees I started by drawing bee shapes onto a yellow sheet of paper. Then my boys used a thick black marker to draw the black stripes on the bees. They glued on a small googly eye and drew on a smile. Once the eyes were dry we cut out all the bees. Well, I'm not gonna lie, I did most of the cutting while my kids played rock, paper, scissors. Haha!

5. To finish our bees, I got out the hot glue gun to make the process faster. We used a small piece of pipe cleaner bent into a V-shape for the antennae, a piece of wax paper for the wing (I only made one for each bee), and I cut toothpicks in half for the stinger. I know ya'll know this, but to protect myself, adult supervision should be used while using toothpicks for crafting. They can cause injury if used improperly. :)

6. I think Luke's favorite part of the craft was deciding how he wanted his bees arranged around his beehive. He was up on the counter playing with them for over 30 minutes. Each bee had a name and he pretty much created a whole movie with dialogue and all. It was so cute! Now that I think about it, maybe I should have just left the bees unattached so he could play with them for days. (PS-Not that I need to explain myself or anything, but sitting on the counter is not a normal thing that happens around this house, but since little Sister refused to refrain from touching everything on the kitchen table, the counter was our only useable space.)

Here is how Luke arranged his bees:

We used a hot glue gun to attach the bees to the paper, since the back of them were so thick from the toothpick and pipe cleaner. I love how it turned out because the bees are literally popping out of the page.

Check out the fun stories we have been reading to go along with this craft.

Horsefly and Honeybee by Randy Cecil

This was a brand new book to my library, published in 2012. It was pretty amazing being the first person to ever check it out at my library. Haha! I loved this story! When Honeybee decides to take a nap in the same flower as Horsefly, trouble
ensues! They don’t want to share, and after quarrelling and each losing a wing, they run away in opposite
directions. But it isn’t long until they meet again… They have both been
captured by a hungry Bullfrog! If Horsefly and Honeybee are to escape before
dinnertime, they must find a way to work together. If ever my children needed a story about sharing and working together, it was this week. They have been fighting like crazy!

Buzzing Bees: Discovering Odd Numbers by Amanda Doering Tourville

This is one of the books in a "Count the Critters" series. This book introduces young readers to odd numbers up to nineteen. Loved this book for 5 yr old. By the end of the book he was really starting to understand the concept of odd numbers. We counted the sets of two's on each page so he got a full understanding of the concept. If you noticed in our bee craft, we used 7 bees. We wanted to make sure to use an odd number to tie into this book.

Ant and Honey Bee What a Pair! by Megan McDonald

It's only a few hours left till Cricket's costume party. "What can we be for the
dress-up party?" Ant asked her friend Honey Bee.With a little creativity and a
lot of work, Ant and Honey Bee finally make a perfect,
two-things-that-go-together pair of costumes for Cricket's big party. But then
-- plip, plip, plip, PLIP! -- it starts to rain, and by the time they arrive,
the proud pair looks more like a matching set of soggy sad sacks. Maybe, though,
if they put their heads together, the quick-thinking friends can turn their
mushy mess into a smashing success. What a pair!

Bee-Wigged by Cece Bell

Jerry Bee wants to make friends, but that's hard to do when you're the
most enormous bee anyone has ever seen. Then When Jerry finds a wig it changes his life. When he
puts it on, he looks just like a boy! Jerry creates quite a buzz with his
kindness and generosity, and for the first time, he has friends. But will his
new pals stick around when his true identity is revealed? This is a cute story about "bee"ing yourself.

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